Featured Creature: Devil's Square, The Ruddy Skull

A human skull covered in rust, the Ruddy Skull continually sheds flakes but never seems to lose any of its mass.  The metallic ball in the eye socket appears to be silver and is unaffected by the corrosion.  All attempts to remove the silver ball have failed.  Those who have held the skull claim to see visions of the past, of distant locations and people, and sometimes of the future.

The Ruddy Skull has not yet appeared in any Devil's Square fiction to date, but will feature prominently in an upcoming Devil's Square story.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Saturday Sketch: Ferryman and the Dead

In one of his early adventures, Doctor Fate journeys to Hell in search of the soul of Wotan and encounters the Ferryman and a group of the dead.  Doctor Fate bullies the Ferryman into allowing he and Inza to cross the River Styx into Hell.

{2.5x3.5,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio and appreciation purposes only.

Exhumed: Open Skull

Here we have a quick sketch of a strange skull.  With the color reinvestiagtion I wanted to give it an environment to inhabit.  I figured the skull has been sitting about for quite a long time collecting dust in some dark dungeon corner. 

{Sharpie with colors added in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Baba Yaga's Gift

Two different sharpie sketches from long ago of the flaming skull from a Russian folktale about Vasilisa and Baba Yaga.  I first read a version of this story in Women Who Run with the Wolves.

{8.5x11,  Sharpie}

Exhumed: Partial Skull

Following along with Halloween and All Saints Day, here's a skull I dug up for this weeks Exhumed.  This Partial Skull was one of the first pieces I began playing with when I began exhuming my older works.  As I played with the color and transparency in this piece, I began to realize that a lot more was possible and just let the Photoshop paintbrush guide me.  Once I added the yellow highlights on the right side, the lightbulb went off in my head and I knew I had to explore this style further!  In working on this piece, I also realized that I am a total geek for color effects.  :-)

{8.33x8.38  Sharpie and Ballpoint Pen with color added in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Winged Skull

Here's some recent sketch play from Adobe Illustrator.  I discovered a beautiful thing called the blob brush tool.  It allows for much more organic vector images.  It's a beautiful thing.

{Digital Images created in Adobe Illustrator}

 

Featured Creature: Gentleman Death

Gentleman Death steals babies breath

and old men in their sorrows.

He takes our moments then and now

and all of our tomorrows.
He comes for those asleeping,

he comes for those awake,

he comes for all in their good time,

disruption is his wake.

His touch is sometimes sudden,

or gentle as falling snow
but never is the time of it
a thing that we can know.

When we hear his raspy voice
acalling on the wind

we know that he has come to take

an enemy or friend.

Sometimes his touch is a great gift

but many times a sorrow

when we see not the reason for

that taking of tomorrow.

{Digital Images created in Adobe Photoshop}

UPDATE 091014:  A permutation of this piece now available on a tshirt design and other cool paraphernalia at my Neatoshop!  Drop by and check it out! 

Tattoo: Skull worm

Just in Time for Halloween...

Another blurb here to remind everyone that the t-shirts I recently designed to promote the HBA are still available through Neatoshop and the Horror Blogger Alliance.  If you are interested in purchasing one, the images below link directly to the ordering pages.  I got my HBA t-shirts in the mail a little while back and I've been working hard on this ad to show you how good they look!  I was like a kid at christmas when the package arrived!  Thanks Jeremy!

From The Sketchbook Archives: The Gate

This was a sketch done the same time as He Who Bears the Fury.  This became a finished painting as well.  After a botched attempt at changing the main colors of the painting, in frustration I painted over the entire piece.  This sketch is all that remains.

NOW AVAILABLE: HBA T-shirts!

For the past month, I've been working with Jeremy over at Horror Blogger Alliance to create a design for the newest HBA T-shirt!  We ended up with the two final designs above that are available now at Neatorama's Neatoshop.  Check out the info on the HBA Tshirts, or order one here.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Partial Skull

I'm not sure of the date of creation on this one, but it was mixed in with some material from 2000-2002.  A quick doodle while on break at work I'm sure, considering the time frame.

{Sharpie & Ball point pen}


UPDATE 010413:

This piece was Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in November 2013.  Check out the Exhumed image here.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Open Skull

I cannot remember my original motivation for this image.  I don't recall being enamored of a Cyclops skull, but I do find the gaping hole disturbing.  Maybe a little inspiration for non-traditional skulls from Wayne Barlowe going on here as well.  I do love his work.

{Sharpie}

UPDATE 050414:

This piece was Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in April 2014.  Check out the Exhumed image here.